Glass manufacturing is a process to produce glass objects, including glass containers, formed from a wide variety of glass compositions. Glass objects are formed from molten glass that is injected, pressed or blown into a mold, but it is difficult to create sharp, distinct angles, features or undercuts by molding due to the tendency of molten glass to flow and level after removal of the object from the mold, especially in high capacity manufacturing systems in which the object is removed prior to the glass fully hardening. Depending on the complexity of the additional features and the processing conditions required, these molds can be difficult and/or costly to produce, which can limit the shapes and geometries of the final glass product.
Also, certain features such as undercuts, or a negative draft, cannot be molded into the glass object, as such undercut would prevent removal of the mold, as it would be mechanically locked onto the glass object. Also, it is desirable to add flexibility in the manufacture of glass objects to utilize a single mold to produce a glass object without certain features, so that such features can be added to that glass object after removal from the mold, avoiding the cost of having separate molds for each separate type of feature desired. Once formed, the objects may undergo secondary processing to create various additional decorative and/or functional features on the glass surface. Depending on the complexity of the features and the processing conditions required, these molds can be difficult and/or costly to produce, which can limit the shapes and geometries of the final glass product.
Additionally, secondary processing can involve pairing the formed glass object with various secondary components to create the decorative and/or functional features. Often, the secondary components require an additional packaging step or a separable piece that increases the complexity of forming the final glass product.
Another technique to form the additional feature is through the use of screen printing, where ink is applied through a screen or mesh onto the glass. During screen printing, multiple colors may be applied separately and/or the screen can impart ink of a fixed thickness to the glass.